Fairy Tale
by Sylvia Viridian
Summary: A look at the first meeting of two misfit nobles. Platonic, bittersweet fluff.


Here's a little bittersweet one-shot about the first meeting between Zelos and Regal. The setting is more-or-less canonical; I pieced together from the game that they met at the Princess' birthday party when Zelos was 6. The only thing uncertain is when Regal's parents died, but it was probably around that same time period. So this is sixteen years before the beginning of the game. To give you a little perspective, that's around the same time frame as all the adorable 'baby Lloyd' fics you see around, about the same time that Presea is gettng involved in the Angelus Project.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia or Superman.

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Once upon a time, there was a princess. On the princess' 6th birthday, as had become custom, the King invited every noble in the land to a celebration. Not attending this party was considered a slight to the Royal Family, and was sure to put that noble out of favor for the next year. And so every noble in the land of Tethe'alla dutifully attended the Princess' birthday bashes. 

This year, there was a new face for the gossip-mongers to prey upon. The Duke Bryant of Altamira, along with his beloved wife, had recently perished in an accident, leaving their only son with his father's title and the family business. Young Regal had never attended these parties before, being busy with schoolwork; this was accepted, since his parents had attended, but now he was the only eligible member of the Bryant family left to represent them at such events. Rumor claimed that he was the kindest, most diligent soul a person could hope to meet; many noble families and their eligible daughters were eager to test this theory. It is with him that our story begins.

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Regal Bryant was not happy. The reasons for this were numerous and severe enough to be quite overwhelming in their magnitude. Most notable was the fact that his parents had died a little over a month ago. This was hard enough in and of itself, but greatly compounded by the fact that he was now in charge of representing the Bryant family at court, while somehow simultaneously running the Lezareno Company…and Regal wasn't even finished with his schooling yet.

As if all that were not enough, he was a seventeen-year-old at a six-year-old's birthday party. The adults were too old for him to relate to, and the children too young; everyone else his age had opted out using some excuse, as he had in previous years, back when he'd been allowed to do so. The only exceptions were several eligible daughters of noble families, all of whom were after his title and fortune, and Regal was in no way up to handling them at the moment. He was sitting in a secluded alcove a short distance from the ballroom, having made his necessary appearance and then retreated as soon as decorum allowed. Being alone with his thoughts, however, was not much more comforting than being in the crowded ballroom, and so the Bryant heir was quite thoroughly miserable.

"Hey, mister," a small voice piped up from somewhere close to the ground. Regal looked down toward it, to see a small, skinny boy of about the same age as Princess Hilda. His bright red hair contrasted vividly with his pale skin and wide blue eyes. "Hey, mister," the boy repeated, "How come you aren't with the other people?"

"Because I don't want to be here," Regal replied shortly. Ordinarily, he would be more patient with such a child, but right now, he only wanted to be left alone.

The boy climbed up on the ledge beside him. "You looked sad, mister. Did something bad happen?"

Regal looked at the child's curious face, and his irritable mood softened. "Yeah," he replied, "…my parents died last month. I just really don't feel like being at a party right now."

The child blinked at him, expression solemn. "Did your mommy and daddy love you?" he asked.

This struck Regal as an odd question. "Yes," he murmured, looking away, "very much." He didn't elaborate, not trusting himself to speak at the moment.

"That's good. Mommies and daddies should love their kids. That's what I think," the boy replied, "…I wish mine did. You're lucky."

Regal turned back to the boy, his grief forgotten for a moment in his astonishment. "What do you mean?" he told the child, "I'm sure your parents love you very much." _They probably just won't let him eat candy for dinner or something._

The child shook his head, "Nope. They don't like me. I think it's because they don't like each other very much. Mommy's always sad, and Daddy goes out a lot. Mommy says when he goes out he's with some other lady that isn't Mommy. That's not right, is it?"

Regal stared at the boy for a moment, amazed by the perceptiveness of this small child, and by his strength in the face of his situation. _This boy…has never had a loving family. I really should count myself blessed._ "…What's your name, kid?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry! I forgot!" the boy cried, then stood on the ledge beside Regal so that their eyes met. He gave a well-rehearsed bow. "My name is Zelos Wilder. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance," he recited, then added, "I'm the Chosen One, so you better do as I say." Sitting back down again, Zelos cocked his head to the side, "What's your name?"

"Regal Bryant. I'm pleased to meet you, Chosen One," Regal responded politely, a little bit stunned. This child…this innocent boy was the second-most powerful figure in the Church?

"Bleah," Zelos made a face upon hearing his title, "Everybody talks about the Chosen One all the time. Just call me Zelos, okay?"

"All right, then, Zelos. So why aren't you playing with the other kids your age?"

"…I don't like them," Zelos said after a moment's thought, "Because they don't like me, not really."

Regal was surprised. "I'm sure you can find one of them who will be your friend," he said encouragingly, uncertain of how to handle this.

Zelos nodded, "Yeah, they all want to be my friends. And then they have all kinds of ideas of things we can do that nobody else could. But…it's all because everyone's scared of me. Because I'm different. They don't really like me, so I don't like them."

Regal found himself once again staring at Zelos in astonishment. _The poor kid,_ he realized, _And I thought everyone treated me differently…it must be awful for him._ "I know what you mean," he told the boy, trying to lighten the mood, "One reason I'm out here is because there's a lot of ladies in there who want me to marry their daughters just because I'm rich."

"Eww!" Zelos cried out in true childish fashion, "Who'd want to marry a girl? Girls are yucky!"

Regal smiled at him a little, the first time he'd smiled in weeks, "I'm sure you'll change your mind in a few years. I just don't want to marry someone who only wants my money."

Zelos nodded, "Next year, the angels are going to come and tell me who I should marry when I grow up. Just like they told Daddy to marry Mommy, a long time ago. So I don't have to worry about anything like that." He paused for a moment, "Only…I don't want to make somebody unhappy, like the way Daddy makes Mommy. So I think maybe I should find a way to not get married."

Regal didn't know how to reply to that. The Chosen One had to get married and continue the bloodline, of course, and he had no choice as to who his bride would be…but Regal couldn't find it within himself to tell a six-year-old that he was almost certainly doomed to a loveless marriage. He was surprised, though, that Zelos seemed to have more concern for his future bride's happiness than his own. Perhaps it was because he only saw his mother's sadness and pain. Fortunately, Regal didn't need to think of anything to say, because Zelos had a child's attention span.

"Do you know any good stories?" he asked abruptly.

Regal blinked at him, "You mean, like fairy tales and things? I know a few."

"Tell me one!" Zelos clambered onto Regal's lap and looked up at him, confident in his authority over the older boy.

"All right. Let's see…Once upon a time, there was a giant tree-" Zelos cut him off.

"Not that one. I know that one already, the priests are always telling me. Tell me a new story, something that's not about angels." Zelos' gaze was just a little bit pleading now, and Regal realized that he must get tired of being the Chosen One, child of angels.

"I'm sorry. I think I know a good story for you. It's…one my mother used to tell me, when I was your age. She said it was a very old legend, from before the Kharlan War. Do you know the story of the Super-man?" Zelos shook his head, eyes wide. "Well, once upon a time, there was an elderly couple who wanted a child…"

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"…and they say that even to this day, Super-man sometimes rescues travelers who are lost or in danger, and he's always wearing that old red sheet," Regal finished, and looked down at Zelos to see if he'd liked the story. To his surprise, the boy had fallen asleep there in his lap. Regal tried to pick him up, intending to get up and find the boy's mother, but Zelos stirred restlessly, and Regal stilled, unwilling to wake him up.

_He looks so content…I should let him be. He deserves a bit of peace, poor kid. I didn't think anyone could make me feel like my life was going well right now._ Regal looked down at the child on his lap, _And I certainly didn't expect that the one who could would outrank me._

They stayed that way for the rest of the party, a pair of misfit nobles taking what small comfort they could, despite both knowing that neither was likely to live happily ever after.


End file.
